Mareesan - a slow burn suspense thriller backed by a brilliant Vadivelu and an effortless FaFa

Mareesan is a suspense thriller that has Vadivelu and Fahadh Faasil sharing screen space for the second time. Velayudham (Vadivelu), an Alzheimer’s patient is locked up in a house when Dhaya (Fahadh), a petty thief breaks in. He agrees to free Velayutham in return for a petty amount, only to find later that Velayutham has an enormous amount in his bank account. Dhaya sets his eyes on the money and decides to spend more time with him. They decide to go on a road trip and their destinations keep changing owing to Velayutham’s memory and Dhaya’s plan to loot. In this journey, they get to know each other and their lives take unexpected turns.

The first half takes time to establish how the connection between the two characters evolves. The first half moves at a slow pace only to shift gears with an arresting interval block. From then on, there is no looking back. The twists and turns keep coming, but in a measured pace instead of throwing in everything at once and overwhelm the audience. The story doesn’t dwell deep into the characters other than the two primary characters and there are some key plots left open. The film conveys a strong message which is seamlessly written into the storyline. Though  solution the movie draws in the end is a little flawed, the movie still holds your attention all along. 

The emotional scenes are not melodramatic and hit the right chord. Vadivelu shines in these scenes and brings out the under-utilised potential in him. There is nothing forcefully fit in the storyline, even Yuvan Shankar Raja’s placement of the remixed version of “Nethu oruthara oruthara paaththom” is seamlessly interwoven into the story. The camaraderie between FaFa and Vadivelu is evident in this song.

Vadivelu as Velayutham is brilliant and completely submits himself to the character. He sheds all his comical strengths though the opportunities are aplenty and strictly sticks to his character. Even there are occurrences when we want him to break out of his character and deliver a comical punch, but Vadivelu denies it and manages to pull off the unbelievable. FaFa is effortless in his portrayal of petty thief Dhayalan. 

Bottomline - A slow burn suspense thriller with a brilliant Vadivelu and an effortless FaFa outshining each other.